PT-2 of Introduction to War of the Ages PT-3 (War on Earth) (Rev. 12:`3-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/13/2015 7:54 AM

My Worship Time             Focus: PT-2 of Introduction to War of the Ages PT-3 (War on Earth)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 12:13-17

            Message of the verses:  “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

            It is interesting to me that a few days ago I picked up a book from my bookshelf to read that has been there for some time and I had never read it before.  The book is by David Jeremiah and he entitles “I Never Thought I See the Day,” and in this book he goes through different things that he never thought that he would see in his lifetime.  One of the things he writes about is that he never thought he would see the day when Christians did not know that they were in a spiritual battle.  This is the second chapter of the book and I just began it last night.  That chapter has a lot to do with what we are looking at in the 12^th chapter of the book of Revelation as we have been looking at battles between Satan and God, Satan and God’s angels, and now looking at Satan and the Jewish people along with believers on earth as the battle now comes to the earth since Satan and his angels have been kicked out of heaven.  I certainly agree with David Jeremiah about many believers who do not know that they are in a spiritual battle, for the signs are all around the world that we are in a spiritual battle as the world seems to grow darker by the day, especially in our own country.

            We will not continue to look at the introduction to the War of the Ages (War on Earth) as we pick it up where we left off in our last SD.

            As I was listening to the message from John MacArthur that goes along with this chapter in his commentary he said that he was at the Holocaust Museum which is located in the state of Israel and one  of the reasons that the Jewish people made this Museum was the hope of there would never be another holocaust like there was in WWII, but the plain truth of Scripture shows that there will indeed be another one, and this one will actually be far worse than the one from WWII.  Let us look at Jeremiah 30:7 “’Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.”  The KJV of the Bible calls it “Jacob’s Trouble.”  Jesus speaks of this trouble in Matthew 24:21 “"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.’”  He goes on in verse 22 to say “"Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”  We see from verse 22 that even though this will be the worst time ever on planet earth for God’s people that God still is in control and will care for His own.  After the trials and tribulation comes the glory.

            There are two reasons for this to be the worst time on planet earth.  The first one is something we have been looking at that is that the judgments that we have been looking at are from the Lord and we still have seven more very fast judgments to look at that will come from the Lord to judge the unrepentant sinners.  The second reason is seen in this 12^th chapter of Revelation which speaks of Satan, the antichrist, and later on the false prophet causing great troubles on the Jewish people and also on those who are true believers.  Satan will also do all possible to cause great trouble on the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and God’s two witnesses that we looked at in chapter 11 of Revelation.  However we know that his efforts will not succeed.  John MacArthur writes “His worst fears will be realized when the Jews ‘look on [the One] whom they have pierced; and…morn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and…weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn’ (Zech. 12:10).  The believing remnant of Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25-29), and their promised kingdom will be established (cf. Hosea 2:14-23).” 

            We will now look at a fairly long passage from the 12^th chapter of the book of Daniel which foresaw this tragic and triumphant time for the people of Israel: 

            “1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

    “5 Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. 6 And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these wonders?" 7 I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. 8 As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, "My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?" 9 He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. 10 “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. 11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”  The book of Daniel was written sometime around 5 centuries before Jesus Christ came to earth, and the book of Revelation was written around 70 years after Jesus went back to heaven and Daniel is closed and concealed but the book of Revelation is open.  My personal belief is that we can better understand the book of Daniel because we are very close to the events that he speaks of, and as we compare them to the book of Revelation we also see the same thing.  Now as far as Daniel’s speaking of 1290 days which is 30 days longer than three and a half years it is believed that it will take those extra 30 days to prepare the earth for the Millennial Kingdom to begin.  The things that are spoken of in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel have to take place along with the judgment between the sheep and the goats as spoken of in Matthew 25 have to take place too along with I’m sure other things that we probably don’t know about at this time.

            Now we can see that Jeremiah, Daniel, and our Lord saw the same things happening that we are studying about in the book of Revelation, each from a different time period, and they all saw a future time of unparalleled distress for the people of Israel.  I personally pray for the people of Israel at least five times per week as I believe that even though we know these things are going to happen that God desires us to pray for the completion of what He has promised similar to what Daniel did in the 9^th chapter of Daniel, and we will see that John prays for the Lord’s return even after writing the entire book of Revelation with its theme of the 2^nd coming of Christ to planet earth.

            John MacArthur previews what he goes over in this last chapter of his commentary for chapter 12 of Revelation by writing “This passage describes three attacks that Satan’s forces will mount against Israel during the Tribulation.”  We will begin to look at these three attacks in our upcoming Spiritual Diaries.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from what we have been looking at today that God is always in charge even though difficult times are approaching God is still in charge.  God took the worst thing that ever happened on planet earth, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and made it the best thing that has ever happened on planet earth as Jesus Christ took my place and anyone else who accepts the forgiveness that He provides from His crucifixion along with His burial and resurrection from the dead.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and be ready to tell others whom God brings into my path the truth that will set them free and save their souls.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Upon the seat of the beast” (antichrist).

Today’s Bible question:  “What king was hidden in the Temple for the first six years of his life?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/13/2015 9:01 AM

 

SERVICE FOR MY WIFE

 

SERVICE FOR MY WIFE

Today is the day that we honor my wife at a service at our church along with a very small service at the place where she will be laid to rest.  The service last evening went well as many had the time to talk about the things that they remembered about my wife which was meaningful to all who were there. 

I realize that me speaking in front of a crowd is something that I am not use to, but I have to give tribute to my wife of 53 years, a wife that was one that knew the Lord and also served Him in wonderful ways.  I will now quote from how I will give tribute to her.

MY TRIBUTE TO MY WIFE SANDY

I want to talk about some of the things that Sandy really excelled in and there were many things.  I have always said that Sandy is the smartest person that I have ever known.  Let me begin by saying that the greatest thing that happened to Sandy was becoming a born-again believer sometime in April of 1974, and that met that we were both born-again believers in Jesus Christ that really caused are marriage to go in the right direction.  She was very serious about her faith as can be seen by the journals that she wrote in.  (Picture)  Sandy loved her family very much and was a devoted mom in raising our children. (Picture)  She loved horseback riding which we did on different occasions whenever we were on vacations. (Picture)  Another thing that she really liked to do when she got the chance was to snorkel and she snorkeled in some pretty wonderful places, like Aruba, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Hawaii.  (Picture).  She even took one lesson in Florida to scuba dive, but because of a problem with her ears that did not work out.  Sandy and I lived in Aruba for about nine months, and we had an apartment that was right on the beach.  I would get up in the morning to go to work and a little while later she would get up and head out into the Caribbean.  If she did not go there, she would go and take pictures of the wildlife.  It took her a while to get enough courage for her to drive in Aruba as driving down there was a new way of driving. 

Let me now talk about how Sandy would wash her clothes, and the reason I mention this is because she had clothes that were 20 years old and they looked almost the same as when she bought them.  I spoke about her taking pictures and that was another thing she did very well especially while she snorkeled as her photo albums were full of underwater pictures.  When Sandy’s parents were older, she would always take care of them in ways like celebrating their birthdays. (Picture) 

I now want to touch on her ability to take pain.  In our closet at home are many high potent pain pills that she got after her surgeries and not one pill has been taken by her.  Both of our children were born naturally without any pain medicine given to her, and that to me is amazing. 

I could go on and on about the things that Sandy could do well, things that as I look back warm my heart with these great memories, things like reading Christian stories by different authors she liked as she went to the Library and get these books and always had one for her to read.  I can hear her now when we were in the car to make sure we stop at the library to drop off one of her books.

I am thankful most for the plan that God had for our family, how he led us and cared for us, for we certainly were heading in the wrong direction after we first got married, and then the Lord changed the direction of our lives completely around, something that we really did not ask for, but something God had planned before this old world was even created.  This gives our family the great assurance that Sandy is in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ and getting to know again those believers who passed on before her.  My hope and my prayers are for those who have not come to a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ is that the Holy Spirit will touch your heart so that you too can understand what it means to be a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, so you too can have that hope that Sandy had and not fear death but look forward to being in heaven someday. 

Now before I finish this little tribute to my wife, I want to share something that showed her selflessness. While we were living in Aruba the people we were renting from would send a cleaning lady to clean our apartment.  Well if you knew my wife you would know that she certainly did not need a cleaning lady.  This gave her the opportunity to talk to this lady.  She became well accounted with her and I know that this blessed both of their hearts.

In conclusion I have to say that I will miss my wife very much, but I know that she would not come back to this sin-cursed world even given the chance.  I know from the promise of Scripture that I will see her again when the Lord comes at the rapture or when He takes me home.

I have asked Becky Gravely to sing a song that the Lord has used to keep our family together through this very difficult time that we are going through.  “He Giveth More Grace.” 

Allow me to read 2 Corinthians 12:9 “⁹ And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

 

 

 

 

My wife's services

 

Today begins the most difficult two days that I will ever go through, and that is to have a couple of services to honor my wife, and my prayer that will bring glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  A group of family and some close friends will meet at the funeral home to do this, to tell stories of how Sandy has effected their lives, and to praise the Lord, knowing that Sandy is in heaven with her Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the One who paid for her sins when He died on the cross almost 2000 years ago.  What a privilege for her to meet the Lord and also to see other believers she knew who passed on before her.  My prayer is that these services we have for her will bring comfort to all of our family, and also will bring glory to the Lord, and even cause some to realize that they are in need of the Savior too.

I, and my family need the wonderful words that Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9:  “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness,”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Info On My Wife's Service.

 

INFORMATIONON ON MY WIFE’S SERVICE

I have mentioned that the reason that I am not posting SD’s on my blogs is because of the many things that are going on with the arrangements that have to be taken care of the services that will be going on with my wife’s death.  She past away last Wednesday at 936 in the morning with myself, my daughter, and my son at her side.  I will say that God has certainly given abundant grace to our entire family, and for that we all are thankful.  I will once again post the song that the Lord has given to us as we go through this most difficult time in our lives.

He Giveth More Grace

1. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
   He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
   To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
   To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
2. When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
   When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
   When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
   Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
3. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
   Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
   Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
   The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
4. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
   His power no boundary known unto men;
   For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
   He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

8/2/2026 9:54 PM

Sandy's Went to be with Her Lord

 

Death of my beloved Wife

My wife Sandra went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, her Savior yesterday morning at 9:36 AM.  She was surrounded by me, and our two children when she breathed her last.  It was a very sad day for us and all our family, but for her she went from being in a very damaged body to receive a new body in heaven. 

When I think about Sandy I think of her being a good wife, and a wonderful mother to our two children, and also a great grandmother, something she really loved being.  I think about her adventurous spirit, as she loved to ride the highest and fastest roller coaster around.  She loved the water as she even once took a scuba lesson, but because of a problem with her ear could not do that, but she could and often did snorkel and we have many photo albums with her underwater pictures in them.  She loved horseback riding, even while we were living in Aruba she rode horses on a getaway.  The most important thing in her life is that she loved the Lord, and served Him in different ways ever since she became a believer in April of 1974.

I put a song on my Facebook post yesterday and will put it on again today because this song shows all who are mourning over her death the information that we need to get through this most difficult time in our lives.  This will have the lyrics and also a brief story of the lady who wrote the words which were originally a poem.

  He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
to multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

Refrain:
His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

2 When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
when our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
when we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
our Father’s full giving is only begun. [Refrain]

Author: Annie Johnson Flint

Born: December 24, 1866, Vineland, New Jersey. Died: September 8, 1932, Clifton Springs, New York. Buried: Clifton Springs, New York. The biographical account of poetess/hymn-writer Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932) is a story of both heartbreak and triumph. Born on Christmas Eve in the small town of Vineland, New Jersey, she was welcomed by Eldon and Jean Johnson as their greatest earthly gift. Three years later, little Annie would lose her mother, who died as she gave birth to Annie’s baby sister. Mr. Johnson, who himself was suffering from an incurable disease, willed the children to the Flint family who would bring them up in the Baptist faith. It was during a revival meeting at the age of 8 that the Spirit of God brought Annie'… 

 

 

My Wife

 

My wife Sandy has made it through another night and this has surprised us, but we know that the Lord is totally in control of how many days we live, and so we are trusting the Lord to do His will in the life of my wife.  Our children have been with us since Monday morning, bring our grandchildren to visit their grandmother each day.  They are saddened just as their parents are along with their grandparents.  We know that Sandy like all of us our in the hands of the Lord and He has given us a great measure of grace in order to sustain us through this most difficult time in our lives.  Through this season of difficulties the Lord has given me a song which was originally a poem by a great woman who was born in the late 1800’s and her career as a school teacher was stopped because of arthritis in her hands, but this did not stop her from writing some wonderful poems.  I will close with the lyrics to this song that has been a blessing to me as I go through this most difficult time ever in my life.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase
To added affliction He addeth His mercy
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

When we have exhausted our store of endurance
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure
His pow'r has no boundary known unto men

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again

 

My Wife (07-27-2026)

 

MY WIFE

I have mentioned in many of my recent SD’s that my wife is very ill with cancer.  Well last evening my wife was asking for food, something she has not done for some time now.  This morning she was not talking at all and so I called the hospice people and they came over to help out then they came again later, and then later again to help us out.  My daughter and son along with their spouses have been with us all day and the hospice lady said that it is possible that she will not make it through the night.  This was all a shock to us, but really we were not that surprised because of her condition.  I probably will not be posting any Spiritual Diaries on my two blogs, or not any on Facebook as we want to spend time with my wife who has not said a word all day.  She is receiving medicine to keep her calm every four hours.  Our family can really use your prayers as we walk this difficult path.  Thanks in advance.

Introduction to War of the Ages PT-3 (War on Earth) (Rev. 12:13-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/12/2015 8:55 AM

My Worship Time                          Focus:  Introduction to War of the Ages PT-3 (War on Earth)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 12:13-17

            Message of the verses:  “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

            The following is what I wrote on the 11^th of August 2005 in my Spiritual Diary related to Revelation 12:13-14 “As seen in the last few verses of this chapter Satan has been thrown out of heaven and is now taking out his anger on the nation of Israel and this is exactly what verse thirteen is saying, for the woman who gave birth to the male child is the nation of Israel. 

            “All of these events take place at the beginning of the last half of the tribulation period, which is when antichrist goes into the re-built temple in Jerusalem and desecrates it as was told about in the book of Daniel and also in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus was speaking about this in His Olivet Discourse in chapters 24 & 25.  Jesus forewarned the Nation of Israel that when they saw this event happening, that is the desecration of the temple, that they should flee the city and not come back for there would be much trouble going on there for them after this event.  Verse 14 tells that the escape for the remnant of Israel will be on eagles’ wings and that “she” will be taken to a certain place where she will be nourished for three and a half years, or until the end of the tribulation period.  How do we understand what these eagles’ wings are all about?  As I have said before the rest of the Scriptures are the best commentary for the book of Revelations and it can be noted in a number of places that this description was also given to the nation of Israel when God brought them out of Egypt.  Exodus. 19:4 has this to say about it:  “‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.’”  How God does this is not as important as the fact that He will accomplish it just as He has said He will.”

            The following is what I wrote on the 12^th of August in my Spiritual Diary related to Revelation 12:15-17 “There are times in this wonderful book that it is difficult to understand for sure whether John is giving the picture of using descriptive language that is just symbolism and that is the case here, at least, for me.  The spiritual truth that I gain from this section is that God takes care of His own people no matter how much Satan tries to destroy them, and if one looks at history one can see that the Jews have been targeted by Satan ever since they were a small family living only in the Middle East. 

            “I will give only one explanation as to what the flood and the earth opening its mouth to swallow up this flood might mean.  John could well be speaking of a flood of people, or an army that antichrist will send after these Jews, and it could be that there will be an earthquake that will happen to swallow up this army that is sent to pursue Israel.  If one looks at different Scriptures from the OT there are word pictures that describe similar things.  Isaiah 59:19 “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”  (AV)  Numbers 16:31 “ Then it came about as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open; 32  and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah, with their possessions.” (NASB)  Numbers 16 speaks of the rebellion of Korah and the results of their rebellion are seen in these two verses.

            “Satan became very angry when the Lord protected Israel, so he went off to cause much trouble with the rest of the offspring of Israel.  It is possible that there will be many in Israel who did not choose to go to this place where God will care for those who have gone there and so these are the ones who Satan will try and destroy.  It is also possible that Satan will be going after the “Tribulation Saints” too, and tries to destroy them.  At any rate Satan realizing how little time he has will try and destroy as many as he can.”

 

            What these verses speak of is one of the darkest stains that has been seen in history and that is how the Gentiles have treated the Jews which is commonly called anti-Semitism.  We have seen this happen from the time that God called Abraham up until the likes of Stalin and Hitler who have killed millions and millions of Jews just because they were Jews.  We know that Satan hates the Jews and has tried to destroy them since the beginning when God called them and it is because of his hatred for the Jews that he has tricked or influenced even believers to be against them, especially today.  When a person believes that the promises that God has given to the Jews is for the church it causes them not to be supportive to the Jews as the body of Christ should be especially at this present time when it seems that even the United States is going against the Jews.  God’s promises to the Jews still stands and one day (I hope soon) the Lord will return for His Church which will soon begin the last seven years of history on this earth like we have known it and then at the end of those seven years He returns again to set up His promised kingdom from Jerusalem and Israel will have their promised kingdom that will last for 1000 years.

           

            Not all of the suffering that the Jews have gone through has been because of Satan, but God has chastised them for their sins, sins mostly of unbelief which led to idol worship, and the sin of not recognizing their Messiah when He came the first time.

           

            Now we need not go over the history of all of the times the Jews have been treated badly because they are Jews, but we do need to look at a time when it will be the worst time for the Jews, which will happen in the Tribulation Period, for it will be far worse than when Nazi Germany under Hitler killed six million Jews.  General Dwight David Eisenhower told his troops to capture pictures of what the Nazi’s did to the Jews for he said if he did not do this then the world would forget.  He took the pictures, but it seems to me that the world has forgotten. 

 

            John MacArthur quotes John Phillips who wrote the following on the survival of the Jews:  “Significantly, the turning point came in Moses’ life when he saw, in the desert, that mysterious burning bush, which flamed and blazed away but, for all the crackling of the fire, was not consumed.  That bush clearly symbolized Israel, which cannot be consumed despite the ceaseless hatred of her foes, because God is in her midst.  Israel cannot be assimilated into the nations, nor can she be exterminated by the nations.  She is a burning bush in the wilderness.”  6/12/2015 9:23 AM     6/12/2015 9:24 PM

 

            We will continue to look at this introduction in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I always want to stand true for the people of Israel for I owe much to them as my Savior came from the Jewish people along with the Word of God.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to trust the Lord for the many things that are going on in my life these days and to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Elisha” (2 Kings 5:10).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did the fifth angel in Revelation 16:10 pour out his vial?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

6/12/2015 9:29 PM

 

 

 

The Celebration PT-2 (Rev. 12:10-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2015 10:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  The Celebration PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 12:10-12

            Message of the verses:  “10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.   12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”

            In verse eleven we see that the celebration had effects on earth as it mentions believers which are described by the word “overcomers” something we saw earlier from the 2^nd and 3^rd chapters of Revelation when we were looking at the seven churches.  The problem becomes more difficult for those who are on earth though as Satan and his demons will come to earth as seen in verse 12:  “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  Let us look at Rev. 12:13-17 for a preview of this “13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

            Even though we see all of these terrible things happening on earth when Satan and his demons come to earth in the end they will be soundly defeated and put into the lake of fire, but while they are all on earth, the believers of Jesus Christ will have great trouble along with all of the Jews who may or may not be believers at this time.

            It is good to look at how the believers defeated Satan which is seen in verse eleven which I have highlighted above.  We can never defeat Satan on our own, as only Jesus Christ has done this through His birth, life, death and resurrection from the grave as defeated him.  Paul wrote the following to the believers in Corinth:  3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

            John MacArthur writes “The apostle John gave the only basis for victory over Satan when he wrote, ‘You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).’  It is only through God’s power that any believer in any age can defeat Satan.  Accordingly, the Tribulation believers ‘overcame’ Satan first of all ‘because of the blood of the Lamb.’  Like their martyred brethren already in heaven, they ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’ (Rev. 7:14).  ‘You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,’ wrote Peter ‘but with  precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ’ (1 Pet. 1:18-19).  These suffering believers knew the forgiveness that Paul wrote of in Romans 4:7-8 ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’  The truth that ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1) applied to them.  No accusation against the suffering saints of the Great Tribulation will stand, just as no accusation against any believer in any age will stand, because the Lamb’s blood was shed for all their sins.  The first and most important key to defeating Satan’s assaults is to ‘take the helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17; cf. 1 Thess. 5:8).  The unshakeable foundation of all spiritual victory is Christ’s purchase of redemption at Calvary.”

            Now we look at a second way that these Tribulation saints overcame Satan’s assaults and that was “and because of the word of their testimony.”  These Tribulation saints were similar to what Job went through as Job did not give up, and they will not give up either, for God will give them the strength they need to even die for the cause of Christ, and that is the last way that they defeated Satan “and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”  Many of the Tribulation saints will die for the cause of Christ for when you look at all of the people that will be killed during the Tribulation period only one out of four will be left alive at the end and some of those that are still alive will go into the lake of fire when Christ returns and separates the sheep from the goats as seen in “Mt 25:32  "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;  Mt 25:33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

            Now we will look at the last portion of these verses:  “"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  What we see here is a joyous note followed by a sobering warning “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”  John MacArthur writes “Thumos (wrath) refers to a violent outburst of rage.  The word depicts a turbulent, emotional fury rather than a rational anger.  John Phillips wrote, ‘Satan is now like a caged lion, enraged beyond words by the limitations now placed upon his freedom.  He picks himself up from the dust of the earth, shakes his fist at the sky, and glares around, choking with fury for ways to vent his hatred and his spite upon humankind’ (Exploring Revelation).” His rage is all the more violent because as the text says “that he has only a short time."”    We know that he only has three and a half years for this is the time when antichrist reigns over the earth “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him (Rev. 13:5).”

We conclude with the words of Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:    

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo, his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  We are living in a world that is growing increasingly darker and darker.  John 3:36 says “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."”  John is saying that there are only two kinds of people on planet earth, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and those who do not.  As the world grows increasingly darker the ones that do not believe in Jesus Christ are going to be more and more against those who do.  In the past we have seen that this separation of believers and those who are not do not always fight against each other, but now it seems that all around the world there is becoming less tolerance for those who name the name of Jesus Christ and because of this believers need to learn what we have been writing about in this section, knowing that one day the ‘ruler of this world’ will be put in the lake of fire.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Being very thankful for the fact that my 97 year old father-in-law got through his surgery yesterday, and also for my three year old grandson who is on the mend after breaking two bones in his arm.  God is good.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Give Caesar what belongs to him and give God what belongs to Him” (Matthew 22:15-22).”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/11/2015 11:07 AM

           

           

The Celebration in Heaven PT-1 (Rev. 12:10-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2015 9:53 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  The Celebration in Heaven PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Revelation 12:10-12

            Message of the verses:  “10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.  12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."”

            When we read about this celebration we can understand why those who are in heaven will be rejoicing because of the removal of Satan and his demons from heaven.  There will be no more accusing of people in heaven by Satan and also there will be no more sinfulness in heaven due to Satan and his angels being there.

            The celebration begins with a “loud voice from heaven” but who this comes from is not revealed.  John MacArthur states that this is a collective voice as we see the word “our” which indicates that this comes from more than one person.  Perhaps this comes from those who have been redeemed and are not in heaven.  The first thing that these redeemed saints proclaim is that “the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come.”  MacArthur writes “Salvation is to be understood in its broadest sense.  It encompasses not on the redemption of individual believers, but also the deliverance of all creation from the ravages of sin’s curse and the power of Satan (cf. Rom 8:19-22).  ‘Power’ speaks of God’s omnipotence, His triumphant, sovereign power that crushes all opposition and will establish His ‘kingdom’ (cf.11:15).  They rejoice further that the ‘authority of…Christ has come (cf. 11:15).”  Now we can see some of the things that are happening in this section from the second Psalm, a Psalm that is a Messianic Psalm.  “’Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession Psalm 2:8).”  We have mentioned that when we read prophecies like this one that in the mind of God they have already happened, and even though this event that we are reading about in Revelation 12 have not yet happened during the Tribulation Period the people in heaven treat it as if it has already happened, for in a short time it will come about as we will see as we continue to study the book of Revelation.  Satan has not yet been thrown into the lake of fire along with his demons and the antichrist, and also the false prophet, but as we read this section we can see that the celebration shows that these things are about to happen. 

            This event has been predicted in the pages of Scripture for a long time and when it comes to past Jesus Christ will receive His kingdom on earth.  Think about what is known as the “Lord’s Prayer,” and one of the phrases is “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.”  In that phrase is the prayer that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ will come and it is seen in this section as happening.  This happens because of what has happened to Satan who is “the accuser of our brethren and has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”  As mentioned Satan accuses the brethren all of the time in heaven, but to no avail for all who have been truly born again have been washed in the blood of the Lord and have been forgiven of all of their sins.  We see an example of this accusation that goes on in heaven from the book of Job, and this is just a preview of what went and continues to go on in heaven, but once Satan is thrown out of heaven this stops and the saints are looking forward to when Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and Christ’s kingdom will be the only kingdom on earth.  We will continue this section in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What is seen here is something that I can celebrate even at this time for as stated this will happen.  One of the pieces of Spiritual that I put on is the helmet of Salvation, and in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians he calls it “the helmet of the hope of salvation,” speaking of the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.  This is our hope as believers, and I look forward to it and think about it most every day.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord with all of the difficult situations that are going on in the life of my family at this time, trusting the Lord to work it out for our good and for His glory.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).

Today’s Bible question:  “How did Jesus answer those who asked if it was right for them to pay taxes to Cesar?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/10/2015 10:23 AM

The Victory (Rev. 12:9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/9/2015 11:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  The Victory

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 12:9

            Message of the verses:  “9  And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

            In my Spiritual Diary from 08-08-05 I wrote the following and in it you can see that there is a different reason for the beginning of this war in heaven: “These verses speak of a war in heaven between Michael and his angel’s waged war against Satan.  It may seem strange that Satan still has access in heaven, but he does as can be seen in the book of Job.  Satan is the accuser of the brethren and according to verse nine he also deceives the nations and the whole world.  One of the ways he deceives the nations is to making them think that believers are dangerous, deluded, and destructive, and the makings of this can surely be seen in this country even today.  At this point in the tribulation period Satan will be thrown out of heaven and not allowed to return there to accuse the brethren again.  Dr. Wiersbe states that the reason that Satan is kicked out of heaven at this time is because he becomes so angry after accusing the brethren at the judgment seat of Christ because the Church will be found not guilty to all of his accusations.  After this the war will begin and Satan will be kicked out.”

            We see once again that Satan is thrown out of heaven onto the earth and we looked at the first time this happened from what Isaiah wrote in 14:12 “"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!”  Luke 10:18 also speaks of this when Jesus said “"I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”  We see the term “great” in reference to Satan and that is because of his great power that he uses to inflict harm and to bring about disasters.  MacArthur writes “Earlier, he was described as having seven heads, seven crowns, and ten horns.  That description pictures Satan as the ruler of the world.”

            In this verse we see that Satan is also called the “devil” “Diabolos (devil) means ‘slander,’ ‘defamer,’ or ‘false accuser’—a fitting title for Satan, the ultimate false accuser (cf. v. 10).  He accuses men to God, God to men, and men to other men.  Satan is a malicious prosecutor of God’s people, constantly trying to arraign them before the bar of God’s holy justice” writes John MacArthur.  Even though he accuses believers before God we can read that this will do no good “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” writes Paul in Romans 8:1.  Paul goes on to write in Romans 8:31-34 “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

            The Hebrew word for Satan means “adversary,” and this is a fitting name for him, but the shame of it all is that he was created as the most beautiful creature that God created, but as we learn from Ezekiel it was his beauty that caused him to become proud as Isaiah writes of and thus he sinned before God and fell.

            Next we see that the dragon is described as the one “who deceives the whole world.”  MacArthur says “Deceives translates the present participle of the very planao (‘to lead astray’, to mislead,’ or ‘to deceive’).  The use of the present tense indicates that this is Satan’s habitual, continual activity; as he constantly accuses believers, so also he ‘deceives the whole world.  Beginning with the Fall, Satan has duped the human race throughout its history.  He is, warned Jesus, ‘a liar and the father of lies’ (John 8:44).  Satan lures people to their destruction by causing them to pay ‘attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1).  He seduces people to believe him and not God—to believe he tells the truth and God lies (cf. Gen. 3:4).”

            All of this deception and trickery will come to the highest point in the Tribulation Period for it is that time when Satan will have his man, the antichrist, ruling the world, along with the false prophet making up what has been called the unholy trinity.  One of the reasons for all of this to happen is because before the beginning of the Tribulation Period the Rapture will take all true believers out of the world, and another reason is that Satan and all of his demons will be thrown out of heaven and they all will be on the earth.  We have to believe that all of this is in the plan of God so that as we have said many times earlier that planet earth will return to complete control of God as Satan and all unbelievers will be thrown into the abyss at the end of the Tribulation Period and Christ will rule from His throne in Jerusalem and Israel will receive their promised kingdom.

            MacArthur concludes by writing “As they were cast out of heaven with Satan at his original rebellion (12:4), so also will his angels be thrown down with him after his final expulsion from heaven.  The arrival of the excommunicated demon host (and their evil commander) on earth will add immeasurably to the horror of the Tribulation.  They will join the innumerable demons already roaming the earth, the lately arrived demons belched forth from the abyss (9:1-3), and two hundred million other formerly bound demons (9:13-16) to create an unimaginable holocaust of evil.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth (Rev. 3:10.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to pursue living in the love of the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “A tiller of the ground” (Gen. 4:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what was the captain of our salvation made perfect?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/9/2015 11:42 AM